Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) expands its family of footprint compatible ePower™ Stage ICs to boost power density and simplify design for different power requirements in DC-DC applications, motor drives, and class-d audio amplifiers.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2023 — EPC announces the introduction of two new 100 V power stage ICs rated at 15 A (EPC23104) and 25 A (EPC23103). The two devices join the 100 V 35 A power stage IC EPC23102 offered by EPC.

With the increase in government mandates to combat climate change, automakers are moving quickly to leverage new technology to respond by switching from the internal combustion engine to electric-drive vehicles. This article presents the design of a 2 kW, two-phase 48 V/12 V bi-directional converter using GaN FETs that achieves 96% efficiency and is targeted for the 48 V mild hybrid system.

PSD North America
March, 2023
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An exploration of a GaN-based design of a 2 kW 48V/12V bi-directional power module for 48 V mild hybrid electric vehicles.

Electronics Today
January, 2023
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EPC and Richtek introduce a reference design that achieves greater than 98% efficiency using the RT6190 buck boost controller and EPC2204 EPC GaN FETs

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—  January 2023 — EPC & Richtek announces the availability of a 4-switches bidirectional buck-boost controller reference design board that converts an input voltage of 12 V - 24 V to a regulated 5 V - 20 V output voltage and delivers up to 5 A continuous current and 6.5 A maximum current. The combination of the new Richtek RT6190 controller with ultra-efficient EPC2204 GaN FETs from EPC shrinks the solution size by greater than 20% compared to traditional solutions for high-power density applications.  The solution achieves greater than 98% efficiency for 20 V and 12 V output voltage and can operate without heatsink with maximum rise temperature below 15 degC for 20 V to 5 V, and 55 degC for 12 V to 20 V, at 5 A continuous current.

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces the 80 V, 4 mOhm EPC2619 GaN FET in tiny 1.5 mm x 2.5 mm footprint, offering higher performance and smaller solution size than traditional MOSFETs for high power density applications, including DC-DC conversion, motor drives, and synchronous rectification for 12 V – 20 V.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— November 2022 — EPC, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride (GaN) power FETs and ICs, launches the 80 V, 4 mOhm EPC2619. This is the lead product for a new generation of eGaN devices that have double the power density compared to EPC’s prior-generation products.

EPC’s inverter reference design is based around a GaN chip to reduce powertrain sizes

E-mobility Engineering
September, 2022
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces the latest ePower™ Stage IC that integrates a complete GaN half-bridge power stage capable of up to 35 A at 1 MHz operation offering higher performance and smaller solution size for high power density applications including DC-DC conversion, motor drives, and class-d audio amplifiers.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— August 2022 — EPC announces the introduction of a 100 V, 35 A integrated circuit designed for 48 V DC-DC conversion used in high-density computing applications and in 48 V BLDC motor drives for e-mobility, robotics, and drones.  

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) expands its family of radiation-hardened (rad-hard) gallium nitride (GaN) products for power conversion solutions in critical spaceborne and other high-reliability environments with the addition of a fifth rad hard device to the product family.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— June 2022 — EPC announces the introduction of the EPC7004 radiation-hardened GaN FET. The EPC7004 is a 100 V, 7 mΩ, 160 A_Pulsed, rad-hard GaN FET in a small 6.56 mm² footprint. The EPC7004 has a total dose radiation rating greater than 1 Mrad and SEE immunity for LET of 85 MeV/(mg/cm²). The EPC7004, along with the rest of the Rad Hard family, EPC7014, EPC7007, EPC7019, EPC7018, are offered in a chip-scale package, the same as the commercial eGaN^® FET and IC family.  Packaged versions will be available from EPC Space.

This article presents a two-phase DC/DC GaN converter with 120 VDC input operating at 6.7 MHz. 120 VDC is a standard voltage level in the secondary power system at the International Space Station (ISS). Using GaN FET’s high power density and ultra-fast switching, Tell-i’s newly developed SDK board uses two phases to exceed normal switching speeds. Supporting a standard 120-V bus voltage, as used in systems like the ISS, the multi-phase configuration allows interleaving converters to achieve effective switching at 3 MHz, 5 MHz, and an outstanding 6.87 MHz. Optimal and compact layout is achieved with the use of four EPC2019 GaN transistors and two LMG1210 gate drivers for small gate drive and power loops.

Power Electronics News
April, 2022
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The EPC2050 offers power systems designers a 350 V, 80 mΩ maximum R_DS(on), 26 A peak current power transistor in an extremely small chip-scale package. These new devices are ideal for multi-level converters, EV charging, solar power inverters, lidar, and LED lighting.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— April 2022 — EPC announces the production release of the EPC2050, a 350 V GaN transistor with a maximum R_DS(on) of 80 mΩ and a 26 A pulsed output current. The EPC2050 measures just 1.95 mm x 1.95 mm. This tiny size enables power solutions that occupy ten times less area than comparable silicon solutions.

EPC and Analog Devices introduce reference design using a new Analog controller fully optimized to drive EPC GaN FETs. The combination of the new Analog LTC7890 synchronous GaN buck controller with ultra-efficient eGaN^® FETs from EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) enables up to 2 MHz switching frequency for high power density and low-cost DC-DC Conversion.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—  March, 2022 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9160, a dual output synchronous buck converter reference design board operating at 2 MHz switching frequency that converts an input voltage of 9 V to 24 V to a 3.3 V or 5 V output voltage and delivers up to 15 A continuous current for both outputs. Thanks to the high switching frequency the converter size is very small, only 23 mm x 22 mm for both outputs, and the inductor height is only 3 mm.

A bidirectional converter developed by gallium nitride specialist EPC in collaboration with MPS operates at an advertised peak efficiency of 97 percent.

EETimes
February, 2022
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Demonstrating the design of a bi-directional DC-DC converter for automotive 48 V power distribution, showing how GaN technology is a powerful enabler for efficient electrification. The trend towards increasing electrification in the automotive industry enables car makers both to deliver new innovations to market cost-effectively and to meet increasingly stringent emissions legislation. Raising the vehicle’s main bus voltage to 48 V helps meet the demands of power-hungry systems such as the start-stop motor/generator of a mild hybrid vehicle, as well as loads such as electric power steering, electric supercharging, and vacuum and water pumps.

Bodo’s Power Systems
December, 2021
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The EPC9163 is a two-phase, 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that delivers 2 kW with 96.5% efficiency in small solution size for mild-hybrid cars and battery power backup units.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— November, 2021 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9163, a 2 kW, two-phase 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that operates with 96.5 % efficiency in a very small footprint. The design of this demonstration board is scalable; that is, two converters can be paralleled to achieve 4 kW or three converters can be paralleled to achieve 6 kW. The board features eight EPC2218 100 V eGaN^® FETs and is controlled by a module that includes the Microchip dsPIC33CK256MP503 16-bit digital controller.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — December 2020 — BrightLoop Converters has greatly reduced the size, cost and improved reliability of its latest BB SP DC-DC buck converters thanks to Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s (EPC) EPC2029 enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FET transistors. By switching from silicon (Si) transistors to gallium nitride (GaN), BrightLoop was able to increase the switching frequency of their design from 200 kHz to 600 kHz, while keeping the same efficiency. This design change increased the power density of the solution by a factor of approximately two and this resulted in lower cost by enabling the implementation of a smaller enclosure.

EPC’s EPC2029 is an 80 V, 48 A eGaN^® FET featuring a 1 mm ball pitch. The wider pitch allows for placement of additional and larger vias under the device to enable high current carrying capability despite the extremely small 2.6 mm x 4.6 mm footprint.

Over the past decade computers, displays, smart phones and other consumer electronics systems have become thinner while also becoming more powerful. As a result, the market continues to increase its demand for thinner power supply solutions with greater power density. This article examines the feasibility of adopting various non-isolated dc-dc stepdown topologies for an ultra-thin 48-V to 20-V, 250-W power solution.

How2Power
May, 2020
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EPC introduces 100 V, 3.8 milliohm EPC2053 eGaN^® FET, joining the EPC2045, EPC2052, and EPC2051 to offer a comprehensive 100 V family of GaN transistors that are more efficient, smaller, and lower cost for high performance 48 V DC-DC conversion.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — April 2019 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power FETs and ICs advances the performance capability while lowering the cost of off-the-shelf gallium nitride transistors with the introduction of the EPC2053 (3.8 mΩ, 100 V) eGaN FET.

The EPC2052 offers power systems designers a 100 V, 13.5 mΩ, power transistor capable of 74 A pulsed in an extremely small chip-scale package.  In a 48 V – 12 V DC-DC Power Converters these new generation eGaN FETs achieved greater than 97% efficiency at 500 kHz and greater than 96% Efficiency at 1 MHz

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2019 — Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) announces the EPC2052, a 100 V GaN transistor with a maximum R_DS(on) of 13.5mΩ and a 74 A pulsed output current for high efficiency power conversion in a tiny 2.25mm² footprint.

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) expands AEC Q101 product family with the addition of two new gallium nitride devices.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— January 2019 — EPC announces successful AEC Q101 qualification of two additional eGaN devices, addressing a range of applications in the automotive industry and other harsh environments.  The new products, EPC2206, and EPC2212 are both discrete transistors in wafer level chip-scale packaging (WLCS) with 80 V_DS and 100 V_DS ratings respectively.

With the power architecture transition from a 12 V to a 48 V bus power distribution in modern data centers, there is an increased demand to improve 48 V power conversion efficiency and power density. In this context, DC-DC converters designed using eGaN^® FETs and ICs provide a high efficiency and high power density solution. Additionally, with the advent of 48 V power systems in mild-hybrid, hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, GaN transistors can provide a reduction in size, weight, and Bill of Materials (BOM) cost.

Power Systems Design
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